Any other place for armchair Imagineering?

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I've searched many places for someplace else to do armchair Imagineering, from Facebook fan pages to Reddit, but there just doesn't seem to be any place else to go to put up ideas where they can be seen. Discussion forums appear to be on the way out, and I believe this is literally the only forum left in the world where this is possible, so I'm kind of at a lost for what to do.

There is one fan page on Facebook, but no one seems to be monitoring it. I've also tried other places on FB which have the word "Imagineering" in the name (like "The Mouse and the Imagineer"), but none of them seem like anything like the kind of place one would go to share those ideas (well, maybe you can, but you're most likely to just get some likes at best). I've thought of doing my own FB page, but the algorithms would be against me without actually paying to move the page up.

Is there any place else where one could go to do armchair Imagineering?
 

MickeyWaffleCo.

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
As far as I know, this is one of the only communities left. There are a few solo armchair imagineers out there though. (Imagineerland, S W Wilson, etc.)
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
As far as I know, this is one of the only communities left. There are a few solo armchair imagineers out there though. (Imagineerland, S W Wilson, etc.)
Yes, but those are blogs, where only one person posts things and any responses they get are in the comments below. I actually have a blog of my own, but none of them ever seem to see me. I'm lucky to get some views, but I get no feedback whatsoever on my ideas. It only seems like I'm posting to myself, which seems no better than just keeping these ideas to myself, where I know I won't get feedback.

All I know is, I feel like I'm getting burned out just limiting my ideas to just this forum and not always getting feedback on anything.
 

MickeyWaffleCo.

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Yes, but those are blogs, where only one person posts things and any responses they get are in the comments below. I actually have a blog of my own, but none of them ever seem to see me. I'm lucky to get some views, but I get no feedback whatsoever on my ideas. It only seems like I'm posting to myself, which seems no better than just keeping these ideas to myself, where I know I won't get feedback.

All I know is, I feel like I'm getting burned out just limiting my ideas to just this forum and not always getting feedback on anything.
Hmmm. I see what you’re feeling. I personally don’t know of any others, but then again I’m relatively new yo the forum myself. Do any forum veterans know of any other similar communities? @spacemt354 @tcool123
 

TwilightZone

Well-Known Member
It's not a forum in the traditional sense, but youtube seems to be semi-popular for imagineering. But of course this needs you to 1. be comfortable with at least sharing your voice and 2. figuring out ways to advertise, set up microphones, video editing, etc.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hmmm. I see what you’re feeling. I personally don’t know of any others, but then again I’m relatively new yo the forum myself. Do any forum veterans know of any other similar communities? @spacemt354 @tcool123

I've already tried to speak to @spacemt354 privately, to no avail.

It's not a forum in the traditional sense, but youtube seems to be semi-popular for imagineering. But of course this needs you to 1. be comfortable with at least sharing your voice and 2. figuring out ways to advertise, set up microphones, video editing, etc.

Not to mention worry about copyrights. Plus, here again, there's no guarantee anyone will leave comments on my videos, especially if they're set up with the annoying "kid" label. I don't know how to advertise and I have only the most basic knowledge of video editing. It's all way too expensive for me.
 

TwilightZone

Well-Known Member
Alternate idea over youtube is tiktok, but those are way shorter form compared to youtube. But yeah this is a difficult thing to answer. I will watch this thread since I am also curious on the answer here.
 

JokersWild

Well-Known Member
Yeah I haven't been able to find anything either.

A few years ago r/Disneyland (I think) did an Imagineering contest, which I think was pretty popular. There's also r/Imagineering, which is pretty dead. I set up r/ArmchairImagineering, and I think advertised it here, but nothing became of it. I still have it, if anyone ever wants to post there lol.

Outside of reddit I haven't found anything. People post the odd imagineering thread on forums, but WDWM seems to be the only website with a dedicated community.
 

Mickeynerd17

Well-Known Member

Mickeynerd17

Well-Known Member
In all honesty though, WDWMagic Forums is the single place all the disney fans go to for the most reliable rumors, and for a lot of information in general. As for imagineering forums, this is pretty much it. 🤷‍♂️
 

spacemt354

Chili's
I've already tried to speak to @spacemt354 privately, to no avail.



Not to mention worry about copyrights. Plus, here again, there's no guarantee anyone will leave comments on my videos, especially if they're set up with the annoying "kid" label. I don't know how to advertise and I have only the most basic knowledge of video editing. It's all way too expensive for me.
When was this? I don't have see any recent messages from you in my PMs.

Regardless this is the most active armchair imagineering community that isn't a youtube channel or other media.

For feedback, I can only speak for myself but I can't read every thread on here. A lot of times I only read things that are advertised in threads I'm currently following, such as the One Little Spark Discussion Thread, or threads that I'm tagged in, such as this one. You might get more comments if you put in a little effort to get the word out.

Also, when people offer you feedback, you tend to disagree with the feedback leading to a back and forth discussion that goes nowhere. I've offered you feedback for the last half-decade and many times you disagree with it so I'm not sure what you want. 🤷‍♂️
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
When was this? I don't have see any recent messages from you in my PMs.

Back in 2018, I tried to do a private chat with you about a Mickey ride in Storybook Circus, but it didn't get very far, only four posts. I think you may have only replied once.

For feedback, I can only speak for myself but I can't read every thread on here. A lot of times I only read things that are advertised in threads I'm currently following, such as the One Little Spark Discussion Thread, or threads that I'm tagged in, such as this one. You might get more comments if you put in a little effort to get the word out.

The thing is, I have very specific ideas sometimes, and I like to control things, even if it means limiting myself.

Also, when people offer you feedback, you tend to disagree with the feedback leading to a back and forth discussion that goes nowhere. I've offered you feedback for the last half-decade and many times you disagree with it so I'm not sure what you want. 🤷‍♂️

That's because I really wish I could receive not just feedback, but also positive feedback, bordering on praise. Or I really mostly need help with the details. I like to try and be like MEW, who is very detailed, but I'm not very good at doing it alone. And so the ideas go nowhere, because I am very detail-oriented.
 
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spacemt354

Chili's
Back in 2018, I tried to do a private chat with you about a Mickey ride in Storybook Circus, but it didn't get very far, only four posts. I think you may have only replied once.



The thing is, I have very specific ideas sometimes, and I like to control things, even if it means limiting myself.



That's because I really wish I could receive not just feedback, but also positive feedback, bordering on praise. Or I really mostly need help with the details. I like to try and be like MEW, who is very detailed, but I'm not very good at doing it alone. And so the ideas go nowhere, because I am very detail-oriented.
You're bringing up a conversation from 4 years ago? Looking back I ended up designing a map for that project so I guess it wasn't to no avail.

You say you like to control things but many of your threads are posting unfinished concepts asking for help or feedback. And then many times when people offer their suggestions, you don't like the ideas, because you like to control things. Hence why many discussions with you go in circles.

If you want praise, then post finished concepts like MEW, or James G, or Hulk have done in the past - people including myself want to support and praise your ideas but you make it difficult to do so.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
You're bringing up a conversation from 4 years ago? Looking back I ended up designing a map for that project so I guess it wasn't to no avail.

That's fine, but then you told me to do everything else by myself.

You say you like to control things but many of your threads are posting unfinished concepts asking for help or feedback. And then many times when people offer their suggestions, you don't like the ideas, because you like to control things. Hence why many discussions with you go in circles.

If you want praise, then post finished concepts like MEW, or James G, or Hulk have done in the past - people including myself want to support and praise your ideas but you make it difficult to do so.

But these concepts would never be put up if I had to put everything up in one big post. Like I said, I am detail-oriented, and if I waited until everything was done by myself, they never would be posted. Have you seen how huge such posts can be at times?
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
To continue on with @spacemt354...

There is a reason why I usually will base my ideas off of preexisting ideas as much as possible, whether it's abandoned concepts from Disney park history or even, in some cases, copying other people's ideas here (not forgetting to give credit where due, of course, to avoid plagiarism). It's why I've been constantly doing research on the individual components of Dumbo's Circusland, and becoming frustrated when I couldn't find much of anything of substance, and was pretty much forced to do things from scratch. I'm not the most creative person in the world. If I had to wait until everything was completed by me and me alone without help, they would never be completed, because I'm more detail-oriented. I really have no place to put anything before it's completed. I feel like I have to just keep everything in my head. That's the reason I prefer to reuse old concepts whenever possible, because they're already there.

For instance, check out this revised concept for Mickey's Wonder House: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...o-mks-fantasyland.976107/page-2#post-10137472. I had very little knowledge about Mickey's Mad House and was pretty much forced to invent things pretty much from scratch, which was not easy for me to do. And it was so big that I had to break it into two separate posts. Here's the second post with the second half of the ride, for reference: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...o-mks-fantasyland.976107/page-2#post-10137855. Had I done it as one big post, as you claim I should, it would have been too big to fit.

Even when I could do something on my own, like a Pinocchio ride of some kind, I ran into a lot of opposition. Space is a huge consideration for me and I didn't want to do just another clone of the ride in Disneyland, so I was trying to maybe use the Speedway footprint and have Fantasyland take over Tomorrowland for this. I had thought of doing the Pinocchio ride, any kind of ride, in that spot and theming it to the encounter with Monstro the Whale.

However, @MickeyMouse10 felt that it doesn't make sense to do a ride like that in Tomorrowland, which was why I was going to have the space be taken over by Fantasyland and reducing Tomorrowland a bit, and surround the area with rockwork so that it could be hidden from Cosmic Ray's. MM10 insisted that the Village Haus, themed to Pinocchio, should be taken into consideration. He felt that I do a whole land beyond the train tracks, insisting that it's realistic to do, if SUPER expensive.

MM10 also insisted that an alternative would be to do a clone of the Pinocchio ride next to/replacing Small World and using the Village Haus as the entrance. As a compromise, I tried to a thrilling spinner ride themed to one of Geppetto's new toys, set in his workshop, where some bathrooms near the Village Haus are located now. The ride technology would be reused from Scuttle's Scooters at Tokyo DisneySea and Slinky Dog Spin at Disney Studios Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland.

But MM10 insisted that a spinner is unwanted by the public and that I go bigger and ignore logistics and do a dark ride. The only place that it would fit without too much compromise would be Storybook Circus, but I have trouble believing how an Italian puppet could fit into a seemingly American circus. Again, I tried looking up how the Pinocchio ride may have fit into Dumbo's Circusland, doing lots and lots of research, but to no avail. I prefer to do research than to just do things from scratch, but that seems difficult to do when I don't have anything to go on.

There are more examples of me having to do things from scratch and having a lot of difficulty doing so, such as in the old Disneyland Rio concept, but I will put them up a later time to give you an idea.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
This is actually a really cool idea. I've never looked at the Pinnochio IP from this angle.
Like I said, I wanted to try and not do a clone of Disneyland's Pinocchio ride for a change. But @MickeyMouse10 didn't seem to think that a spinner ride was what anyone people wanted. In any case, I had also thought of a swing ride, like this one abandoned concept for what would have gone into the CA Adventure during its overhaul, but I thought the footprint was too big, especially since I wanted to have it enclosed, and I thought the building housing the ride would have been HUGE (i.e., dwarfing the surrounding area). In any case, here's the concept art for the swing ride I had thought of earlier:
6f23a3906d1021ab3f2ee26f6e674a3c.jpg
 

spacemt354

Chili's
Like I said, I wanted to try and not do a clone of Disneyland's Pinocchio ride for a change. But @MickeyMouse10 didn't seem to think that a spinner ride was what anyone people wanted. In any case, I had also thought of a swing ride, like this one abandoned concept for what would have gone into the CA Adventure during its overhaul, but I thought the footprint was too big, especially since I wanted to have it enclosed, and I thought the building housing the ride would have been HUGE (i.e., dwarfing the surrounding area). In any case, here's the concept art for the swing ride I had thought of earlier:
6f23a3906d1021ab3f2ee26f6e674a3c.jpg
See I think this is a great idea as does Splash and I'm sure others if they read it - it's very realistic and is an original attraction using the Pinocchio IP

But the beauty of this forum is nobody is stopping you from doing this - you're focusing on what MickeyMouse10 said instead of just doing what you clearly have a vision for and have received praise here for.

Follow what you want to do and what you think is realistic, then post the idea for feedback. And if you get stuck ask for help but understand that by you asking for help you are giving up control of the idea. If you don't want to do that then that's when you work it out yourself.

You don't need to be like MEW or others who post pages upon pages of concepts. A single thread with an idea such as this is enough to get positive feedback on.

Remember you were voted in to the Imagineering Hall of Fame Class of 2019 by a vote of your peers here - you are clearly talented and many others think so otherwise they wouldn't have voted for you.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
See I think this is a great idea as does Splash and I'm sure others if they read it - it's very realistic and is an original attraction using the Pinocchio IP

But the beauty of this forum is nobody is stopping you from doing this - you're focusing on what MickeyMouse10 said instead of just doing what you clearly have a vision for and have received praise here for.

It's hard to do something when someone criticizes your idea, especially if that someone is the only one responding to your posts.

Follow what you want to do and what you think is realistic, then post the idea for feedback. And if you get stuck ask for help but understand that by you asking for help you are giving up control of the idea. If you don't want to do that then that's when you work it out yourself.

You don't need to be like MEW or others who post pages upon pages of concepts. A single thread with an idea such as this is enough to get positive feedback on.

But a simple idea doesn't get very far without some details and that's where MEW and others really shine. Like I said, I'm not the most creative person in the world.

What's more, you told me to keep my ideas to myself if I didn't want to give up control of the idea. Am I not technically still in control regardless? Isn't the idea still mine? Or does it belong to someone else now? Also, where else would I be able to put my idea without posting it on a thread if I didn't want to "give up" control of something? As I said, it sounds weird as it's not like I'm selling away the rights to my idea.
 
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